Weighing the ascendency of Vance, the puppet of tech fascists, is useless through old lenses. In a moment where elections are under attack and state violence is growing, discussing who can win free and fair contests is antiquated. It’s self-soothing, but it ignores our very real reality.
Thank you for saying this. Sure, I’ll be happy when Trump is gone, but I know it’ll only get much worse w/Vance.
What we are experiencing is a system predicated on ignoring popular consent. Fascism is unpopular by definition. And Vance’s closeness to tech fascists who are inherently antidemocratic speaks to what he could represent should he gain power, which they’ve wanted since they bought his position.
Hillary Clinton, of all people, was right. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
It is natural to get caught in the catharsis of imagining Trump being gone, but we can’t let it rock us into complacency. This fascistic moment was built on people wanting to believe an investigation or scandal or election would rid us of Trump, which cost us valuable time organizing resistance.
We can’t control Trump or Vance or a person’s health. What we can control is ourselves and our ability to form coalitions that can contest for actual power. Sitting on death watch rather than doing the hard work of organizing a movement that can actually grind this to a halt is counterproductive.
Republican oligarchs are buying power daily. They’re controlling more and more facets of democracy. Our country is being hallowed out. They have all the cards as Trump would say.
yep.. I pretty much just said the same... somewhere in this long post...
Glad to see soft succession happening. Would love to see researchers and scientists form a new "CDC" with the Mayo in MN.
It’s time we give up on pleasing fantasies that all of this is an aberration rather than the natural evolution of capitalism into fascism. Trump is a figurehead, but he isn’t the total sum of what we’re facing. Unless we fight back and change things, this will continue to worsen regardless of him.
You're so on point with your analysis!
An astute commenter noted that this admin is a Hydra: even if one is removed, several others persist and new ones pop up. That doesn’t mean give up. It means: don’t merely remove, but also cauterize to stop any further growth.
Natural evolution, my ass. This is an aberration from the American political norm of the last 50yrs and no amount of tankie logic changes that reality.
We’ll agree to disagree.
The only choice we have is to come together and leverage our democratic power through political and economic pressure. We cannot afford to be lulled into observing and waiting and hoping this will solve itself. That’s not how any of this works and hoping otherwise has done irreparable damage.
agree with this. i do wonder if, without the gangster-ish blend of charismatic cult loyalty and abject fear Trump strikes n the heart of the GOP, it might be “easier” to resist and overturn a Vance/Thiel regime. Will the Trump-supporting military types and RW militia types be all there for Vance?
Serious question, Jared. Has there been an historical precedent for stopping fascism through economic and political pressure?
@tadstoermer.bsky.social would be a good follow for that question. He is a historian that focuses on resistance. The only thing that comes to mind is India did has used general strikes and work stoppages to slow down the authoritarian drift. However it hasn’t reversed it.
And when our political and economic pressuring fails, we need to mentally and emotionally prepare ourselves for the inevitable ugly and bloody revolution coming.
Both can be true. It is helpful when the cult is less animated. They know this. That is why they are working so hard to consolidate. TFG is the animating force.